The Enterprise 2.0 Community

Destroying Creative Poverty

I respect the Enterprise 2.0 Community. The whole community is doing a remarkable job fulfilling it’s moral and ethical responsibilities to support the next generation workforce. Many organizations are realizing benefits now, but this long-term investment is about to unleash an innovation storm that will destroy creative poverty.

The shift from “Brainstorming” to “Painstorming” fueling “Motivation Design” harnesses the synergy required for new levels of innovation crafted in co-creation that addresses real needs in Business Models today.

Enterprise 2.0 Solutions that require a manual and relentless campaigns to drive adoption are examples of Enterprise 1.0 with an Enterprise 2.0 label. This is similar to people thinking they can support gamification, and try to gamify their system by adding badges that have no value. Smart Enterprise Gamification provides the addictive properties that accelerate people through the workflow in a seamless manner. Meaningful rewards, badges, leaderboards are key components in a gamified system created for engaging collaboration. The real value of Gamification is realized when the deeper engagement achieved, endures beyond the system. A Real Enterprise Solution Res ipsa loquitur (speaks for itself).

Get on the Fast Track to Social Business Success, join today’s thought leaders at the Enterprise 2.0 Conference. It is difficult to choose a favorite session or presenter, but one person does stand out. I would make a point of talking with Deb Lavoy ( @deb_lavoy ) of OpenText ( @opentext ). She “gets it!” A 15 minute conversation with her can save you years of frustration and aggravation. Attended her Enterprise 2.0 Conference keynote and discover what the future holds. Expect to be amazed by the OpenText announcements.

The Social Business of Enterprise Gamification

Unlocking New Levels of Innovation through Collaboration

Enterprise Gamification is the use of game dynamics within organizations to support a collaborative culture that aligns with business objectives. This creates an agile social business model that can increase chances of success in current competitive markets and future markets. Applying Enterprise Gamification and implementing game mechanics in enterprise 2.0 platforms plays a very important role in it’s event-driven architecture for capturing the REAL value of enterprise 2.o solutions. This REAL value is realized by lowering barriers of participation and showing the relationships of people, ideas, and things. Implementing enterprise gamification strategy should be a part of the complete social business strategy. Gamification for Business, Brands, and Loyalty is surfacing new Participation Patterns in Enterprise 3.0. Paharia believes that gamification will move beyond consumer markets into the enterprise, as companies gamify their processes to get employees more engaged. Paharia said there are a number of such enterprise projects already underway at Bunchball. The Dynamic Game Engine from Badgeville is a giant leap in Gamification Innovation for Social Business. New Social Businesses can achieve greater levels of success faster when gamification is incorporated into the Business Model Strategy.

Unlocking the Real Truth of Social Business

JP Rangaswami ( @jobsworth ), chief scientist of salesforce.com, discusses the future of gaming in the enterprise in this video. Social gaming is incredibility popular in mainstream society. This popularity has thought leaders busy discovering new ways Social Gaming can drive innovation in the Enterprise. How will game dynamics accelerate workflows? What about the value of badges, ratings, and leaderboards in collaboration platforms? See what others are saying about JP Rangaswami’s thought provoking presentation.

Current Enterprise 2.0 Twitter Game Board

Diversity fuels innovation. Sports fanatics have their fantasy football teams. This is my fantasy innovation team. This current Enterprise 2.0 twitter game board represents people focused on Enterprise 2.0 and Social Business now. You can connect with more creative people by following this Enterprise 2.0 Twitter List http://bit.ly/E20Team.

The TAME Game of Behavior Gamification in the Enterprise

The Secret Social Science Sauce of Gamification

Most people want to be successful and are willing to contribute to the success of the team. Understanding and applying these four key principals of gamification can significantly increase the success of all efforts. “The Secret Social Science Sauce of Gamification”

The Gamification of Innovation in the Enterprise

“Gamify”, The Future of the Innovation Process

The Enterprise Strategy of Innovation Gamification in business should be taken seriously by CIOs, IT Managers, and Enterprise Architects. Helping their colleagues, partners, and business associates understand how to leverage the concepts of game dynamics should be a defined goal in their Enterprise 2.0 Strategy Plans. “The Gamification of Innovation in the Enterprise“.

The Semantic Social Business Phase of Enterprise 2.0

Enterprise 2.0 is relatively young, but is already maturing into Semantic Social Business. The phrase “Enterprise 2.0″ is a play on “Web 2.0″. Web 2.0 identified the trend of the web transforming from one-way communication broadcasting tool, towards a two-way communication and collaboration platform. Business thought leaders and early adopters harnessed the value of these tools in Enterprise 2.0. Many of these organizations are now entering the “Semantic Social Business” phase (Enterprise 3.0).

This “Innovation Explosion Phase” of “Semantic Social Business” goes beyond the Semantic Web (web of data that can be processed directly and indirectly by machines). Fueling Business Intelligence past the levels of machine-constructed algorithms, driven by broad collective use of conversational interfaces as predicted for Web 3.0 and suggested in “Social Semantic Web“. Semantic Social Business (Enterprise 3.0) can be seen as the process of harnessing collective intelligence through internal and external collaboration to support design thinking for business intelligence. New hubs of innovation will be discovered through a network of nodes that will transform the world of business forever. New “perpetual innovation” models will get better as the levels of participation and collaboration increase the level of collective intelligence. This trend will connect businesses, partners, and customers in the game of prediction markets fueled by the power of co-creation.

Thought Leaders on Big Data and the Business of Web 3.0

Context will become more of a key focus as organizations leverage internal and external social networks for business intelligence. This video mashup has something for everyone. Some people will enjoy complaining about the video quality of some video clips in this mashup. Others will take action on the information they understand here and help prepare their business for the future.

New Business Models on the Horizon

Adapting to new ways of doing business will not be intuitive for everyone. Learning how to integrate internal and external data to support collaboration for fueling innovation will require new thoughts around business strategy. Connecting and collaborating with others in this market will increase chances of success. The team at AppFusions helps organizations accomplish their future goals while achieving their current objectives by reducing the complexity of unique business models. A custom strategy coupled with integration and implementation plans that align with business objectives will play an important role in these new Social Business Models. I have had the privilege of working for some great consulting firms over the course of my career. I am currently working full time as a member of the “Enterprise Research & Development Team” for a company in the Washington, DC area. I plan to play a part in the implementation of these new business models and have very recently joined the team at AppFusions.

The Gamification of Innovation in the Enterprise

“Gamification describes the broad trend of employing game mechanics to non-game environments such as innovation, marketing, training, employee performance, health and social change,” said Brian Burke, an analyst at Gartner. “Enterprise architects, CIOs and IT planners must be aware of, and lead, the business trend of gamification, educate their business counterparts and collaborate in the evaluation of opportunities within the organization.” Understanding the concepts of Game Theory and applying game mechanics to the business process can help identify and encourage desired behaviors in Social Business. More information about Social Business Gamification can be found here, “‘Gamify’, The Future of the Innovation Process“.

Leadership Development Gamification

Leadership development is the key to exponential business growth. Most organizations are not interested in running their business like a daycare. Leaders should provide others with opportunities to unleash their maximum potential focused around business objectives. Great leaders develop leaders that know how to create added value. Many leaders play multiple roles within the organization and may find it increasingly difficult to find the time to award team players recognition for value-added contributions. This loss of recognition and communication weakness can dramatically decrease the level of innovation. Rypple provides some “Epic Leadership Tips” that improve communication and helps teams stay on track. Rypple also provides a very interesting service that helps fuel innovation through communication supported by a “Gamified” platform that is fun & easy to use. Yes, “Leadership Development” can be “fun & easy” with Rypple. See Rypple’s slides on Enterprise Gamification here, “E 2.0: Enterprise Gamification & the Behavior Engine“.

Additional Information About Social Business

Gartner Enterprise Architecture Summit: The visionary and thought-provoking keynotes will help you anticipate what is taking shape on the horizon. The end user studies will shed light on how leading practitioners have delivered results and they will share lessons learned. The interactive workshops are an opportunity to “roll up your sleeves” and work together with peers and Gartner analysts to solve EA challenges. The roundtables are all about facilitating peer exchange. Learn more here.

Word to CIOs: Digital Business Means the Semantic Web: As Graham G. Rong, Chair at MIT Sloan CIO Symposium sees it, CIOs and other corporate leaders will need to look beyond the strategies or best practices that have worked in the past, which may not be adequate to the demands of the future. Consider the virtual nature of social networks, which are virtually without control but data-rich, and how CIOs as change agents will need to understand, develop and make good use of new ways and tools for collecting and analyzing such digital information. Learn more here.

Forbes: How Real-Time Marketing Technology Can Transform Your Business: Technology has changed marketing and market research into something less like golf and more like a multi-player first-person-shooter game. Crouched behind a hut, the stealthy marketers, dressed in business-casual camouflage, assess their weapons for sending outbound messages. Email campaigns, events, blogging, tweeting, … Learn more here.

Why Wall Street Is Betting Big on Your Social Media Data: Wall Street’s interest in using social networks is far-reaching. Many other social media platforms are receiving attention from investment managers who are searching for the next edge; looking to slice and dice content from social networks to arrive at meaningful … Learn more here.

Social Business Strategy

Dr.Michael Wu (@mich8elwu) has written a series of articles on how to leverage the concepts of game theory and ideas about implementing game mechanics to support a dynamic social business strategy. He has included some very interesting points about Enterprise Gamification in one of his recent articles. I recommend reviewing his ideas and insights in “The Future of Enterprise Software will be Fun and Productive“.

I believe Michael made many smart observations and shared several intelligent ideas. Here is what I wrote as a comment in his latest article on Enterprise Gamification. I would enjoy hearing your thoughts on how to “Gamify” Social Business and supporting game mechanics in the Enterprise.

Response to “Enterprise Gamification”:

Michael﻿,

Thanks for taking the time from your busy schedule to share your thoughts on this very important topic.

Your ideas about a Gamification Strategy for rapid adoption of Enterprise 2.0 Solutions to support fluid collaboration will help business leaders avoid creating a platform brick. A “platform brick” is a solution designed and implemented with very limited collaboration by a small group of people before understanding anything about the culture or business objectives. This silo approach is usually followed up by a raging river of cash and other valuable resources to drive adoption. The flow will continue until this river runs dry or when someone is strong enough to put egos aside and start conversations about real collaborative solutions.

I am also puzzled about why most enterprise software developers and vendors don’t collaborate more with leaders in the video game industry﻿﻿. I believe a background in psychology﻿ & sociology﻿ will be the new requirement for future enterprise software developers.

Driving Adoption of Enterprise 2.0 Solutions should be a shared responsibility between the players and the platform itself. Platforms should become more intelligent through the course of user interaction and take the lion’s share of driving adoption.

Q: How much do we need to pay an Intelligent Platform to drive adoption?

A: $0

Q: How many bonuses do we need to pay an Intelligent Platform to drive adoption?

A: $0

Q: How many vacation days, sick days, and perks does an Intelligent Platform need to do it’s job?

The exponential﻿ value of Enterprise Gamification can be achieved by applying the principals of game theory﻿ to players and objects for unlocking the power of collective intelligence. This collaborative approach to creating game dynamics goes far beyond points & badges for people and things. This type of model is designed to facilitate﻿ the growth of a collaborative﻿ culture. The players (employees) strengthen relationships and leverage resources on their journey of helping the organization accomplish business objectives and achieve their goals.

Enterprise Gamification Strategy

Enterprise Gamification is the use of game mechanics within organizations to support a collaborative culture that aligns with business objectives to create an agile social business model that can increase chances of success in current competitive markets and future markets. Applying the principals of game theory and implementing game mechanics in enterprise 2.0 platforms plays a very important role in it’s event-driven architecture for capturing the REAL value of enterprise 2.o solutions. This REAL value is realized by lowering barriers of participation and showing the relationships of people, ideas, and things. Implementing enterprise gamification strategy should be a part of the complete social business strategy. Additional information is available in this article, “The Gamification of Innovation in the Enterprise“.

This controversy over terms also applies to “#Gamification“. The terms “Gamification” or “Gamify” may seem “buzz busy” and out of place in the context of business, but these terms actually help business leaders connect to new ideas for accomplishing business goals. You can learn more about how to use game mechanics to accomplish your goals at this Gamification Workshop by Gabe Zichermann ( @gzicherm ) scheduled for June 23 in Washington, DC (check the schedule for a location near you).

The foundation of harnessing the power of the web for Social Business leads us back to “Web 2.0: A Strategy Guide” By Amy Shuen. Videos on this guide by Amy Shuen are available at “‘Web 2.0: A Strategy Guide'” By Amy Shuen“.

Unlocking the Deeper Levels of Value in Enterprise 2.0 Platforms

Combining Enterprise Architecture (EA) with Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) and Event-Driven Architecture (EDA) provides methods for capturing and surfacing the power of collective intelligence. This architecture strategy for Business Intelligence (BI) leverages previously unknown causal relationships to form a new event pattern. This new business intelligence pattern triggers further autonomous human or automated processing that adds exponential value to the enterprise by injecting value-added information into the recognized pattern which could not have been achieved previously. I have shared ideas on this topic before at “Enterprise 2.0 Adoption Patterns: Collective Intelligence“.

Collective Intelligence

The main concept to grasp about collective intelligence in the enterprise is this:

Harnessing the power of collective intelligence to unlock the hidden levels of prediction markets can be accomplished by surfacing data through interactive widgets, gadgets, and apps. Data analysis can be difficult and time consuming, but crowdsourcing these tasks out to the players of your business community can lighten the burden and achieve better results. These interactive apps can be created by mashing up data with chart/graph APIs and game components into web-based widgets. Using standard methods for creating these widgets will support sharing the experience across the enterprise in a platform independent manner.

How Do We Get There From Here?

The challenge of successfully unlocking these hidden secret levels of value will require a collaborative effort. Here are a few resources for helping your team on this quest.

BUNCHBaLL Gamification Whitepaper

“Gamification uses proven techniques from game design to satisfy your customers and engage them with your content, community or brand, while simultaneously driving meaningful value for your business.” ~ BUNCHBaLL – Gamification Whitepaper

APIs, Apps, Widgets, & Gadgets

“… We’re talking specifically about “open” (or public) APIs, those that are intended to be picked up and used by outside developers. This is common practice in the tech industry, where Facebook, Twitter, Google, and more offer APIs that let developers build applications around their data… ”

“Pro Web Gadgets” by Sterling Udell was published before its time. This book about “Cross-platform Development Strategies” goes far beyond how to use clever Web 2.0 technologies for creating apps, widgets, and gadgets for the “Distributed Web”. The author carefully guides the reader through the techniques and strategy of extending existing IT investments to make data more interesting and sharable across environments and devices. The purchase of this book is a priceless investment for anyone thinking about developing for the future of the web.

Enterprise Gamification is a huge topic with many areas to explore. You can discover more here “Enterprise Gamification” I have also discovered a lot of very smart helpful people about this topic on Twitter. You can follow this #Gamification Twitter List to connect with people that can help you on this adventure. You can discover intelligent people sharing ideas about Enterprise 2.0 & Social Business on this “Enterprise 2.0 Twitter List #e20“.

“Gamify”, The Future of the Innovation Process

Gartner Says By 2015, More Than 50 Percent of Organizations That Manage Innovation Processes Will Gamify Those Processes.

“Gamification describes the broad trend of employing game mechanics to non-game environments such as innovation, marketing, training, employee performance, health and social change,” said Brian Burke, an analyst at Gartner. “Enterprise architects, CIOs and IT planners must be aware of, and lead, the business trend of gamification, educate their business counterparts and collaborate in the evaluation of opportunities within the organization.” Learn more here.

Beyond Gamification: 7 Core Concepts to Create Compelling Products

Amy Jo Kim (@AmyJoKim) shared 7 core concepts to create compelling products at the Web 2.0 Expo SF 2011. Understanding these 7 core concepts when implementing Game Mechanics within the Enterprise Innovation process is critical. Designers and Developers should already be aware of the core concepts when creating Enterprise 2.0 Platforms. These core concepts with very slight modifications can be reviewed here:

Know who plays a part in your business objectives – design for their social style

Build a system that’s easy to learn and hard to master

Build fun/pleasure/satisfaction into your core workflows

Use Progress Mechanics to “light the way” towards learning and mastery of business goals

Amy explains the core concepts of Gamification in the Web 2.0 Expo video.

Enterprise Innovation Gamification

The Enterprise Strategy of Innovation Gamification in business should be taken seriously by CIOs, IT Managers, and Enterprise Architects. Helping their colleagues, partners, and business associates understand how to leverage the concepts of game mechanics should be a defined goal in their Enterprise 2.0 Strategy Plan. Learn more at “What You Need to Know Before Boarding the Enterprise Gamification Trend Train“.